Tehri for Posterity

Tehri town as some of you now know is the New Tehri. The original Tehri town was in a valley whereas the New Tehri is at a much greater altitude.The town is/was part of the Uttrakhand state. In place of the town now there is a huge lake that is the largest man-made reservoir in Asia supplying water to the Tehri hydel power plant.

When I had gone to the Tehri region in 1989 the town was still very much there though the work on the Tehri dam was in progress for the past several years. I even saw Sunderlal Bahugana protesting against the dam.

The picture below will remain etched forever in my mind and I put it here for posterity as the town is no more as it has been submerged by the Bhagirathi and Bhilangna rivers.

Tehri Town in the Year 1989

When I revisited the area again in the year 2005 most of the town was already under several feet of water. The part that was still visible of the town was the 'Ghanta Ghar' (clock tower). In the picture below the top of the clock tower is visible in the centre.

Tehri Town in Year 2005

Of course, now even that as well as any other structure remaining has also gone under water.

That is the price the locals had to pay for the so called development. The locals were given land for agriculture and housing several hundred feet above the level at which they were earlier residing leading to a complete (and devastating) change in their living/working conditions as from a moderate climate they were forced to stay in a cold climate.